Amherst Center: Open space, business development can peacefully coexist

Published on November 28, 2008

We need to encourage more business development in town, to broaden our tax base so we can support the services we depend upon without pricing homeowners out of town. But sometimes we run up against the claim that supporting business development means selling out other values  in particular, sacrificing the open space that is key to Amherst's quality of life.

We believe it's time to stop pitting these two important values against each other. As the map at the link immediately below shows, we can have both.

--Click to see the Open Space and Business Development Areas map (Adobe Acrobat Reader req'd; will open in a new browser window or tab)

On this map are: 1) the priority areas for preservation from the draft open space plan and 2) the priority business zones referred to in the master plan. Future preservation efforts would be primarily targeted at filling in the shaded areas, much of which have already been preserved. Future business development, on the other hand, would be located in the cross-hatched business zones. As you can see, there is very little overlap.

In fact, we think by making our business zones stronger, the ensuing financial stability will help us protect more of the targeted preservation areas. Recent progress in Town Meeting is making Amherst more business-friendly. But that doesn't need to make us any less green. Working with a master plan can make us financially sustainable and green.

Amherst Center is a monthly column that seeks to present local issues from a centrist point of view. It is written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand and School Committee member Andy Churchill.